Knowing When to Change Engine Parts

Chances are that if you own an airplane you know a little bit about an aircraft engine. If you do own a airplane yet know nothing about how the engine works there is a pretty good chance that you employee someone who does the maintenance for you. In that case, congrats on your wealth and make sure your maintenance guy see's this article. If, on the other hand, you do own your own airplane and have to do the maintenance yourself you know how many moving parts go into your engine. You also know that if any of said moving parts stop working in flight you are going to be in a lot of trouble. With that in mind, you want to make sure that you change your aircraft engine parts before they actually need to be changed.

But how do you know when your engine parts need to be changed? Unlike a car where you can tell by a jiggle or a sound you don't like, in an airplane you never want to hear that sound when you are in the air. Even if you don't crash, hearing that kind of sound can't be good for your heart. That's why you need to take a two pronged approach: have a written journal of when parts need to be changed and do your regular pre-flight checks with an emphasis of inspecting each part that you have.

The first part of the equation is easier to do. If a company says a specific part is good for two years or 100,000 miles, don't wait for three years and 150,000 miles to change it, get new parts before you know that you need it. While it is human nature to want to save money by pushing your parts to go as far as they can, taking a chance with an aircraft part is not something that you ever want to do, especially if you don't know how far it can be pushed.

When it comes to doing a visual check on your aircraft engine, you have to first know what you are looking for before you start making start your check. Do your research and know what a particular part looks like when it is on it's last legs. Be sure to pay attention to sounds, colors and even smell as they can all help you figure out how your parts are working. While it may take a look of referring to the manual at first, after a while you'll be able to know how a part is doing the second you lay eyes on it. This way you can always keep abreast of which parts are fine and which ones need to be replaced ASAP.

Article Source: TravelFreeGuides.com

About the Author

Author Kim Green makes sure all the aircraft engine parts are in good repair before flying.

by: catwomanseven

Total views: 0 Word Count: 461 Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2011 Time: 10:36 PM - 0 comments

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